It would be a pretty good bet that a very high percentage of the America public is unaware that on Friday, Sept. 14, our military suffered its worst loss of air power since the Vietnam War. In a Taliban attack in southern Afghanistan that day, six Marine jet fighters (Harriers) were destroyed and two badly damaged. Two Marines were killed in the assault.

You would think such a severe loss would have merited detailed coverage in the media…but you would be wrong. The national media have other things on their agenda. Like doing everything they can to cripple Mitt Romney’s campaign.

From my viewpoint – that of one involved in the news business for more than 30 years – the past few weeks have witnessed the worst of concerted media bias in memory. Just consider a few developments of the past month.

• The national debt surpassed 16 trillion dollars. That’s trillion with a “t”.

• The economy remained mired in the most putrid post-recession recovery in decades.

• American embassies throughout the Middle East were attacked, ransacked, and black al-Qaeda flags were raised above them.

• Four Americans – including Ambassador Christopher Stevens – were killed in the assault on our Libyan consulate. Stevens may have been tortured. The consulate itself was shabbily secured, both before and after the attack.

All of these occurrences were worthy of massive news coverage. Yet, judging by the media’s actions, the most important issue of the day – actually, of three full days – was Mitt Romney’s comments about our government’s lame response to the MidEast crisis. During a surreal news conference the day after the attacks, Romney was asked the same question seven times by reporters trying to elicit what they hoped would be another Romney “gaffe.” The same gathering featured an “open mic” moment in which several reporters were heard coordinating their questions in an effort to trap Romney. Once upon a time in America, reporters viewed themselves as competitors, not organized political hit squads.

The real gaffe of the entire episode was the Obama Administration’s laughable claim that the embassy attacks were caused solely by a crude Internet video seen by very few people. The assertion imploded within a week. Had a similar claim been promoted by a Republican administration – repeatedly so, contrary to common sense and mounting evidence – it would have been held up by a howling national press corps as evidence of incompetence. But it wasn’t, and it wasn’t.

A few other recent, notable events went underreported. The president casually referred to the MidEast strife as a “bump in the road,” and to the escalating Iran/Israel tension as “noise.” An audiotape from 1998 surfaced, featuring Obama explicitly saying he favors redistributionist economics. He appeared at a Manhattan fundraiser that featured a tower made of 350 champagne bottles valued at $105,000…while posturing as a guy who can relate to “the people.” The Obama campaign redesigned the American flag, replacing the 50 stars with the Obama logo. And he didn’t get called on any of it by the mainstream media.

Should Romney have expected such media bias? Probably, although he can’t be faulted for underestimating the outrageous lengths to which the fourth estate has gone to carry Obama’s water.

The mainstream media are corrupt. Completely – and, most dangerously, willingly – corrupt. It’s no wonder that a recent Gallup poll revealed a record low level of public trust in the media. It’s a ranking they have worked hard to achieve, and they’ve earned it.